Kamui Kobayashi on his “more important” Le Mans victory and more
- Tarun Suresh
- 2 hours ago
- 4 min read
Toyota grabbed their sixth Le Mans win this year after the No.7 Toyota Racing car crossed the line first at the 24 hour mark, 10.9 seconds ahead of the No.20 BMW crew in what was the closest Le Mans finish since 1969.
One of the drivers from the No.7 crew and the team principal of Toyota Racing, Kamui Kobayashi, was interviewed by DIVEBOMB ahead of the São Paulo race weekend to discuss both his international racing in the World Endurance Championship and domestic racing in Super Formula in Japan.
This latest win was Kobayashi’s eighth time on the podium and his second time on the top step.
“I think a long time we tried, but obviously we took time to achieve this, obviously. We brought, not a new car, but an updated car, TR010. It makes us really competitive in Le Mans.
"I think that’s because of all the good effort from the team and everything to win Le Mans. It's not one piece that’s enough; every piece is important, but I think the car is quite a huge demand. So that brings us to win Le Mans.”
One major difference between this year’s Le Mans win and Kobayashi’s first is the difference in the amount of competition. When he won Le Mans for the first time, the Hypercar class only fielded six cars, including his own. Now the same class boasts seventeen cars.
Kobayashi mentioned this win compared to his first: “We obviously have more cars, more manufacturers, so I think winning this is something that's more important for us.”
Another major thing that changed this time around compared to 2021 is that Toyota introduced the TR010, an upgraded version of their previous challenger, the GR010. The two time WEC champion compares the two cars: “Driving style is the same, just more cars are consistent generally. I think that brings us better performance in Le Mans.”
During the race, the No.7 actually had a problem where a faulty sensor triggered slow modes and power spikes, forcing the crew to run with less power, an issue which Toyota Racing technical director David Floury claims made the car 6-8 km/h slower at times. Kobayashi says it did not affect their approach during the race: “We just tried as much as we can.”
The WEC race following Le Mans has been the 6 Hours of São Paulo for the past three years, including this one too. Last year’s Brazil round marked Toyota’s worst finish in WEC, finishing 14th and 15th. Kobayashi is hopeful that this year’s running won’t be a repeat of the last.
“Hard to say if we're going to be good or not. But last year, we tried to maximise here. And obviously, we bring a new car. And I think this hopefully will perform well. But before running, it's hard to say anything. But yeah, I think we need to maximise; we need the best out of it for the championship.”
The WEC regulations for 2030 onwards have been officially revealed just ahead of this year’s Le Mans. Toyota Racing announced their intentions to race a hydrogen car at Le Mans in 2023. Since then, they’ve been steadily making progress towards making that a reality, and most recently ran a few demonstration laps at Circuit de la Sarthe this year.
Kobayashi revealed that it’s still unclear if Toyota Racing would pursue a hydrogen Hypercar or not: “We don't know. It's difficult momentum for that. Of course, I think hydrogen is the most important road for us. But for Hypercar stuff, it's the challenging part. But yeah, let's see. Still a bit of time”
When not racing in WEC, Kobayashi races back home in Japan in the second fastest racing series in the world, Super Formula. This year, the Hyōgo native has made the switch from KCMG, the team he had driven for the past eight years, to TGMGP, a resurrection of the historic Team Goh.
“I think still we were in the learning process. But at least I think we were improving race by race. At least I think we scored one point as a team. I think we scored a point for the first time since they started the team. So it's clearly improved, but still a long way to go to where we want to be.”
Earlier this month, official test sessions were conducted at the Fuji Speedway. Both he and his teammate Rikuto Kobayashi (not related) struggled during the tests, running only 19th and 16th fastest, respectively, across all four sessions combined.
“Still, I think we are analysing. But obviously, I think the test was not, I would say, what we expected. Obviously, we were a bit lack of performance. Yeah, I mean, try to understand from the analysed data. And hopefully, I think we can bring best package. Yeah, that's not easy, but still we need to learn something more.”
That’s not the only racing he’s done domestically, he also returned to the fastest sportscar racing series in the world, Super GT, for a one off at the Fuji Golden Week Special, driving a Mercedes AMG GT3 for ROOKIE Racing in the GT300 class.
“The driver had a problem with license. And obviously, I think they were looking for drivers. Actually, I was available. So I just jumped in the car. I know quite well, so I think quite sweet to jump in the car there. I know pretty well the team. And the driver as well.”
He has also driven the Mercedes AMG internationally, in the Nürburgring Langstrecken-Serie (NLS) for his former Super Formula team, KCMG. Kobayashi speaks on his experience at the Nordschleife.
“Still learning the Nordschleife. I think that's the most important target. Because it's a long track and many corners. You need many races to be confident in that track. So obviously, I have not much running. Just prepare for any case if I need to really compete the Mercedes GT3 there in the Nordschleife.”
At the age of 38, the two time WEC champion is still going strong. He will be participating in the 6 Hours of São Paulo this weekend with qualifying taking place at 15:25 BST and the race at 11:30 BST. In the following weekend he’ll be participating in the Super Formula triple header at Fuji, taking place from the 17th to 19th July.
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